I love Mexican food but I’ve only recently made tacos an addition to my lexicon of recipes. For years I’ve cooked chilli, with and without meat, fajitas, burritos and huevos rancheros (otherwise known as ranchers eggs), but I’d always been put off by the notion of tacos.
Why? Because the idea of biting into a crisp, unyielding shell of tortilla with a filling of minced beef or chicken that would then splinter and drip everywhere rather unappealing. Then I discovered the existence of soft tacos and everything changed. A soft taco is like a small, plumply soft tortilla. You fill it with either spicy minced beef, chicken or other protein, load it with lettuce, grated cheese, sour cream and jalapenos and then instead of any complicated folding a la fajita, you simply cup it in your hand and indelicately scoff it. At least, that’s how I eat it. If I’m wrong, don’t @ me and ruin my new-found enjoyment.
When I make tacos, which is about twice a week at the moment, I do two versions – one meat and one that’s vegan. While there’s only one vegan in my family, we all love the non-meat version too and it’s incredibly quick and easy to prepare.
You may consider this cheating, but I use pre-prepared spicy vegan sausages or burgers that are cooked and then snipped up into slices or small pieces in place of chicken. There are some fantastic, tasty and nutritious options out there (Quorn do a great spicy vegan burger and most supermarkets have an own-brand vegan range now. It’s well worth experimenting with a few brands to see what suits you. Waitrose do an excellent Spanish-style vegan whirl which looks like a Cumberland sausage and is flavoured with paprika) and it’s far less time at the stove and more time for you with your family.
It’s taken over in my home as the Sunday dinner favourite, shoving the traditional roast firmly out of the way. It’s a meal that’s easy to make, easy to eat and is a great choice for when you all sit down together as a family, where everyone helps themselves to build their own tacos. Just make sure you have plenty of tacos on hand because it’s surprising how many you’ll want to devour.
Easy vegan tacos
Print RecipeIngredients
- Soft tacos (Luchitos is a good brand)
- Half an iceberg lettuce, shredded
- 6-8 Spicy vegan burgers or sausages (Quorn, or similar)
- 150g vegan cheese, grated
- Vegan mayonnaise
- Chipotle salsa
- tamed jalapenos
- Refried beans
- 2 ripe avocados, scooped out into slices and squirted with lime juice
- Peppers, any colour
- Lime wedges, for squirting over and to garnish
Instructions
- In a non-stick frying pan, cook the burgers or sausages according to the pack instructions.
- Heat a separate frying pan, slice the de-seeded peppers into strips and cook over a high-ish heat until they’re soft and slightly burnished at the edges.
- While they are cooking, shred the lettuce and put it in a bowl. Grate the cheese and put that in a separate bowl.
- Warm the refried beans through in a saucepan and when they’re ready, put them in a bowl to serve.
- Have your table ready with the bowls of lettuce, cheese, beans, avocado, mayonnaise, salsa and jalapenos. When the burgers or sausages are cooked through, snip or slice them into bite-sized pieces and transfer to a warmed bowl, garnish with lime quarters.
- At the very last moment, warm through the tacos in the microwave. If you don’t have a microwave you can warm them in a dry frying pan or in the oven for 10 minutes, but make sure they are well wrapped in foil so they don’t dry out in the oven.
- Invite your fellow diners to join you at the table and help themselves to a delicious Mexican feast.
- The best taco (in my opinion) is one that has a little of everything and is slightly too full. Cup it in your hand and try to eat it as politely as possible!
